Sermons

Sat. Dec. 24, 2016: St. Peter’s 1: the people have seen a great light Isaiah 9:2-7 Titus 2:11-14: the grace of God has appeared Luke 2:1-14(15-20) Psalm 96 lectionary History of Christmas: How is it that we find ourselves in the night-time of the year, celebrating the nativity of Jesus? How it got to be Dec. 25th At the founding of our country – very little attention paid by the Puritans. (One of the scandals of the “Anglicans” was their observance of Christmas Much of what we observe today a product of the commercial and business interests of the 19 th / 20 th century Each of us here tonight carries memories of our local and family traditions. ( I asked a clerk at Publix the other day whether she was going to be spending time with little family or big family – she immediately knew what I was talking about. Her big family is in Georgia and they hoped to get there next month, but this weekend it is a quiet time together with the local family. ) by the 4 th c. a cluster o...

Sun, Dec 18, 2016: St. Peter’s Sermon Fourth Advent The strange circumstances of King Ahaz Bible Study and lectionary In our reading from Isaiah this week, God responds with as it were a sigh of exasperation at King Ahaz who says in a voice of mock piety, "Nah, I don’t need a sign from you. I’m doing just fine. To which God (the Lord) says, “Well, I’m going to give you one anyway. A young woman is with child. And his name will be Immanuel.” That’s not particularly remarkable we can observe, except perhaps the name which means “God is with you.” But then if we add some of the back story to the short reading it all just seems even weirder – at least to me. You see Ahaz is being attacked from an alliance of the northern kingdom and Syria (“2 kings” from the reading). God has promised to rescue King Ahaz from the predicament. But Ahaz thinks he can do just fine without God’s help so he makes the response we have heard today. The text as we all know was used by the writers of...

Sermon Third Advent: Dec. 11, 2016 lectionary a highway there (Isaiah some more) ransomed of the LORD break out in song possible use of Magnificat James “be patient” til the coming of the Lord John the Baptist – see I’m sending my messenger ahead to prepare the way In previous Sundays I focused on the readings from the prophet Isaiah in an attempt to hear an Advent message in a fresh light. Isaiah has looked out at his own country and seen a leadership made impotent by rampant injustice and a failure to reflect the deeper values of the people of Israel. In spite of expecting destruction from the legacy of these leadership problems, Isaiah brings a message from God that inspires hope and expectation in a time to come. Advent is a time of preparation for a time to come. In the Orthodox church it is a period of self-reflection and self-examination that lasts 40 days – mirroring the time of preparation in Lent. It is a time to be taken seriously. Perhaps it is a time to take t...

Sun, Dec 4, 2016: St. Peter’s Sermon second Advent: lectionary Last week I announced that I intended to preach on the Isaiah passage each of these weeks through Advent. Week by week we will hear from the prophet Isaiah. Each of the passages is famously associated with Christmas – going back centuries. A great danger for us, I believe, is to become more and more immune to hearing the true power of the message. My hope is to help in hearing the message of the gospel. Today we hear from (ch. 11 of Isaiah) – stump of Jesse – the peaceable kingdom, the wolf and the lamb lie down together. Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you (Rom) Rom refers to Isaiah John the Baptist appears Broad influence of Isaiah When we listen to Handel’s Messiah passage after passage is taken from the prophet. It has been called “the Fifth Gospel”, and its influence extends beyond Christianity to English literature and to Western culture itself. gathering of commentaries: (mo...